The present invention relates to a door structure for an elevator, which is for laterally opening and closing an entranceway of an elevator from and toward the center thereof, and a method for adjusting the door structure.
FIGS. 12 through 17 show a door structure for an elevator developed by one of the present inventors and disclosed in Japanese Patent Kokai Publication No. Hei. 6-144752, published on May 24, 1994. FIG. 12 is a cross sectional view showing a key portion of an elevator. FIG. 13 is a front view showing a cage door structure in FIG. 12, as viewed from the platform. FIG. 14 is a front view showing a platform door structure in FIG. 12 when viewed from an elevator path. FIG. 15 is an enlarged view showing a portion A in FIG. 13. FIGS. 16 and 17 are enlarged views showing a portion B in FIG. 12. In those figures, like reference numerals designate like or equivalent portions.
The construction of a cage door structure will be described with reference to FIGS. 12 and 13. In the figures, reference numeral 1 designates a cage of an elevator; 2, an entranceway of the cage 1; 3 and 4, sliding doors horizontally slidable at the entranceway 2; 5 and 6, hanger plates for supporting the hanger plates 5 and 6 in a suspending fashion; 7 and 8, hanger rollers of which the shafts are supported by the hanger plates 5 and 6; and 9, a rail. The sliding doors 3 and 4 are supported so as to be movable in the entranceway direction through the hanger rollers 7 and 8. Reference numerals 10 and 11 designate rollers for preventing the hanger rollers 7 and 8 from slipping off the rail 9. These rollers are located in contact with the lower side of the rail 9. Reference numeral 12 designates a cross beam, and the rail 9 is fastened to a lower beam 13 thereof. Reference numeral 14 designates a door motor, and a drive force generated by the door motor 14 is transferred to the sliding doors 3 and 4, through a belt 15, a chain 16 and a 4-string link 17. Reference numeral 18 designates a belt wheel; 19, a chain pulley; 20, a crank arm fastened to the chain pulley 19; 21, a coupling arm for coupling a drive arm 22 with the crank arm 20. Reference numeral 23 indicates a follower arm, which is coupled with the drive arm 22 by a coupling bar 24, and converts a motion of the distal end of the drive arm 22 into the reversed motion. Engaging vanes 25 and 26 for transmitting a drive force of the cage door structure to the platform door structure are respectively coupled with the ends of the drive arm 22 and the follower arm 23, through links 27 and 28. Each of the engaging vanes 25 and 26 includes a fixed plate 56 and a movable plate 57. These plates are spaced at a distance, which is shorter than a distance between a fixed roller 52A and a movable roller 52B of a platform drive door 36 and is shorter than a distance between a first vibration damping roller 54A and a second vibration damping roller 54B of a platform follower door 37. If required, the distance between these plates is enlarged. Reference numerals 29 and 30 designate poles for supporting the cross beam, which are respectively fastened to the side faces of the cross beam 12. Door shoes 31 and 32 are fastened to the bottoms of the cage sliding doors 3 and 4, and slidable on a threshold 33 fastened to the cage 1. Reference numeral 100 represents an elevator path, and numeral 101 indicates an elevator platform.
The construction of the platform door structure will be described with reference to FIGS. 12 and 14. In the figure, reference numeral 34 designates a wall of the elevator path 100; numeral 35, an entranceway formed in the wall 34; 36, the platform drive door driven through the movement of the cage sliding door for opening and closing; and 37, the platform follower door 37 driven through the movement of the platform drive door 36 for opening and closing. The platform drive door 36 and the platform follower door 37 form sliding doors for opening and closing the entranceway 35. Reference numerals 38 and 39 indicate hanger plates from which the platform drive door 36 and the platform follower door 37 are suspended; 40 and 41, hanger rollers of which the shafts are supported by the hanger plates 38 and 39; numeral 42, a rail; and 43 and 44, rollers being in contact with the lower side of the rail 9 in order to prevent the hanger plates 38 and 39 from slipping off the rail 9. Numeral 45 designates a hanger case fastened to the wall 34 of the elevator path by means of fittings 46. The platform follower door 37 is interlocked with the platform drive door 36 by a rope 47. Numerals 48 and 49 designate rope pulleys. Numerals 50 and 51 designate interlocks, which are fastened to the hanger case 45 and the hanger plate 38. These interlocks are placed to a locked state when the cage 1 is off the floor. The movable roller 52B comes in engagement with the fixed plate 56 when the cage sliding door 4 is moved for opening, thereby to unlock the interlock 51 by a coupling bar 53. The fixed roller 52A and the movable roller 52B are fastened to the platform drive door 36, through a mounting plate 72, and the first vibration damping roller 54A and the second vibration damping roller 54B are fastened to the platform follower door 37 through a mounting plate 75. Numeral 55 designates a weight for pulling down the platform drive door 36 and the platform follower door 37 in the door closing direction.
The construction of a portion A in FIG. 13 will be described with reference to FIG. 15. In the figure, the engaging vanes 25 and 26 each include the fixed plate 56 and the movable plate 57. A distance between the two plates vary depending on an angle of the link 27 (28), by a mechanism including a roller 58 attached to the tip of the link 27 (28) and a cam 59 fastened to the movable plate 57. Reference numeral 60 designates a spring constantly urging the two plates 56 and 57 in a closing direction.
The engagement of the cage door structure with the platform door structure will be described with reference to FIGS. 16 and 17. FIG. 16 is a view showing a full close state of the door structure, and FIG. 17 is a view showing a state of the door structure when it is being opened and a state of the door structure being opened to the full width. In the full close state, the movable plate 57 is in a closed state, since the roller 58 is at a position P1 on the cam 59 shown in FIG. 15. Accordingly, a distance between the fixed plate 56 of the engaging vane 25 provided on the cage sliding door 3 and the movable plate 57 is kept to be narrower than the distance between the fixed roller 52A and the movable roller 52B of the platform drive door 36. A distance between the fixed plate 56 of the engaging vane 26 provided on the cage sliding door 4 and the movable plate 57 is also kept to be narrower than the distance between the first vibration damping roller 54A and the second vibration damping roller 54B of the platform follower door 37. Thus, these plates are spaced by a certain distance. With the movement of the sliding doors 3 and 4 in the opening direction, the roller 58 shown in FIG. 15 moves to the position P2 on the cam 59, so that the distance between the two plates 56 and 57 becomes large, and the fixed plate 56 and the movable plate 57 of the engaging vane 25 are brought into contact with the movable roller 52B and the fixed roller 52A provided on the platform drive door 36. A distance between the first vibration damping roller 54A and the second vibration damping roller 54B, which are attached to the platform follower door 37, is set to be slightly larger than the largest distance between the fixed plate 56 and the movable plate 57 of the engaging vane 26 attached to the cage sliding door 4. Slight gaps between the two vanes of the engaging vane 26 and the first vibration damping roller 54A and the second vibration damping roller 54B are secured.
The operation of the door structure thus constructed will be described. A drive force generated by the door motor 14 is transmitted to the sliding doors 3 and 4 by way of the belt 15, the chain 16, and the 4-string link 17. With the movement of the sliding doors 3 and 4, angles of the links 27 and 28 vary, so that the distance between the fixed plate 56 and the movable plate 57 of each of the engaging vanes 25 and 26 becomes large. The engaging vanes 25 and 26 come in contact with the movable roller 52B of the platform drive door 36, to transfer a drive force of the cage sliding door 3 to the platform drive door 36. The engaging vane 25 is brought into contact with the fixed roller 52A and the movable roller 52B as shown in FIG. 17, thereby to unlock the platform drive door 36. In the platform follower door 37, the engaging vane 26 engage the first vibration damping roller 54A and the second vibration damping roller 54B, with small gaps therebetween. The platform follower door 37 receives a drive force transmitted by the rope 47, thereby to open and close. The distance between the first vibration damping roller 54A and the second vibration damping roller 54B and the gaps between these rollers and the engaging vane 26 are adjusted so as to absorb a difference between the opening/closing operations of the cage sliding door 4 and the platform follower door 37. The engaging vane 26, and the first and second vibration damping rollers 54A and 54B are provided in order to damp a vibration of the platform follower door 37 when the door is operated at a high speed or when the sliding doors 3 and 4 are moved reversely. When an opening/closing load abruptly changes, the rope 47 is extended and a vibration takes place. When the rope 47 is extended to exceed a gap between the engaging vane 26 and the distance between the first vibration damping roller 54A and the second vibration damping roller 54B, or when the platform follower door 37 moves relative to the cage sliding door 4 a distance in excess of the gap, the engaging vane 26 comes in contact with the first vibration damping roller 54A or the second vibration damping roller 54B, thereby damping the vibration of the platform follower door 37.
In the elevator door structure thus constructed, an error is caused during the opening/closing process of the cage sliding doors 3 and 4 driven by the 4-string link mechanism, the platform drive door 36 driven by the cage sliding door 3, and the platform follower door 37 driven by the interlocking mechanism through the platform drive door 36 and the rope 47. To remove the error, the positional relationship of the engaging vane 26 with respect to the distance between the first and second vibration damping rollers 54A and 54B must be adjusted over the entire range of the opening/closing run of the sliding doors 3 and 4. Much time is consumed for this adjustment. Additionally, it is noted that the cage door structure includes the 4-string mechanism. When a difference between the strokes of the sliding doors 3 and 4 is large, the opening/closing process error is also large. In this case, it is difficult to absorb the opening/closing process difference between the cage sliding door 4 and the platform follower door 37, and to adjust the gap so as not to deteriorate the vibration damping effect.